Plant Mom: The New Kids

Today was my day off and since it promised to be a glorious and warm day, I made plans with a coworker to go hiking. We figured it's an activity we could do while still social distancing and plus, we work together so we're already contaminated with each other's cooties.

Sadly, she couldn't rein in her allergies enough to be able to drag her poor sinuses through an excess of nature so those plans got cancelled. I wasn't too upset though because I traded in a 3.6 mile hike in 80 degree weather for a trip to the plant store.

Sadly, my purple wandering jew was looking extremely sad and sickly so I decided to salvage what cuttings I could and put something else in it's pot. Below is a picture of the cuttings:

See how depressingly sad they are? If you click on the link above, you can see how much more vibrant the purple is supposed to be. I think I overwatered these a shit ton and didn't give them the light they needed and when I realized my mistake it was already too late. Hopefully, I can resurrect it from these cuttings but in the meantime, it's pot is now occupied by a Goldfish Plant, which I was super psyched to find at my local garden center.

Those little orange flowers, when fully bloomed, look exactly like leaping goldfish. Also, as it grows and the stems get longer, they'll hang down nicely over the pot. I've been wanting to get some more vining type plants, especially for that particular bookshelf. I've read that these guys can be kind of finicky to grow so we'll see how well I manage. It's probably not the best idea to replace a plant that I accidentally murdered with one that's harder to grow but I couldn't resist. 

I recently discovered that my Rattlesnake Plant likes the light level in the kitchen a lot better so naturally I needed something else to take it's place on the table in our office. Since I get a ton of light in there I decided to get a Croton, which loves light. I'm not sure which variety this is specifically but all Crotons are super colorful. I liked the longer, thinner leaves on this one. I've only seen the oval leaved variety so I decided to get something a little different.

Last but not least of the new guys, check out this weirdo. It's a Sansevieria Cylindrica or, as it's called in more badass circles, an African Spear. They can get a lot bigger but I wanted to give a shot at something not as far along as my other plants. This is supposed to be pretty easy to grow- you mostly just leave it alone. Since I'm a chronic overwaterer though, I made sure to get a terra-cotta pot (it's not glazed on the inside) since the terra-cotta absorbs excess water. 

I couldn't help but sneak in a picture of my baby, my pride and joy, Rubbert Plant the Rubber Plant. When I got him, he was a foot high and not nearly so full. He is thriving, spitting out new leaves constantly, and by next year I may have to get him a bigger pot. I've had a lot of trials and tribulations with all my other plants but Rubbert has never disappointed.

I also have an oyster plant that's going to be repotted in a super special terra-cotta pot I ordered from Etsy a while ago and should get here soon. It's current pot will house another exciting new plant I also ordered from Etsy. When those come in, I'll have to share them too.

All that plant business took up a lot of my day but I enjoyed hanging on on the porch keeping busy. Later I relaxed with my new favorite warm weather beer, Long Trail's Blackberry Wheat. I'm a little iffy on super fruit-forward beers because they often just present as a sad hint of fruit which I don't like as a combo with beer. This beer though, there's no mistaking that its blackberry and its super refreshing. Perfect for warm weather relaxing on the porch.

Cheers!